Darrell Markewitz is a professional blacksmith who specializes in the Viking Age. He designed the living History program for L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC (Parks Canada) and worked on a number of major international exhibits. A recent passion is experimental iron smelting.
'Hammered Out Bits' focuses primarily on IRON and the VIKING AGE

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

My friend Neil Peterson has been after me for some (too long) a time to forge some replica Viking Age arrowheads.

I have begged off this - primarily because this is largely specialist work. There are a few others out there who have concentrated (solely, from the look of it) on the skills and tooling required to be effective at this type of work. Hector Cole of the UK being the 'state of the art' in my opinion.

Neil has been most interested in two specific points, illustrated in the (almost impossible to find) 'Viking Artifacts' by James Graham-Campbell :

Image adjusted to life size

These are described as his number 12 (part of a group) and 267 (two shown) , " ... from the large find discovered in Estuna churchyard in 1964. ... objects of 7th to 11th century date are 245 arrowheads ... the greater part dating to the Viking Period." (pg 12)
From : Estuna, Uppland, Sweden, listed as Statens Historiska Museum 27761 (both images).
Further details are given on the second entry #267:
"Two tanged iron arrow-heads, with trefoil-sectioned blades of pointed oval form : between the blade and the tang is a rounded shaft, the larger having two ornamental mouldings. L 15.7 and 11.3 cm." (pg 74)

Forging a trefoil head represents a bit of a forging problem. Being able to see the original, or have some better idea of the detailed cross section, would most likely suggest the method used.
After a couple of forging tests, using differing starting shapes and sizes, differing forging steps, this is what I eventually came up with:

Life size - 1/4 inch grid

These are *rough forged* - and would need to be trimmed / sharpened on the cutting edges to finish. The longer of the two (#12) would then have the circular notch cut in, most likely with the edge of a file (like the square profile one found in the Mastermyr Tool Chest).

I ended up using a bottom profile tool to create a sharp line for the trefoil cross section:

This is the selection of tools I used for the work, with the addition of a cut off (or a straight chisel)
- The tongs are a special fine pair of goose neck, designed with a 'half square' notch on each jaw. The basic goose neck shape is seen in many VA tongs - although not so extreme. I am not aware of any artifact tongs with notched or profiled jaws (all I have seen are flat jaw).
- The shouldering tool here is intended for mounting in the hardie hole of a modern anvil, a feature no artifact anvil has. It is also quite possible to make this tool as a simple U shape, to be held by an assistant. There is no artifact version of this tool (again that I am aware of). Mind you, the simple construction would easily lend the metal to be quickly re-cycled as needed. Norse objects do show the shouldering form - 'loop and tab' hinges being a clear example.
- The bottom tool is *not* found in the artifact record.
I found the best way to create a robust central rib in the trefoil cross section was to lay a square taper 'edge down' into the groove, then pound flat from above. There may be a modern conception of 'mass production' at play here however. Using the bottom tool certainly was much faster and created a thicker cross section than hammering two diagonal bevels on one side. The results were also more consistent (but I can see repetitive skill coming to play there).

If there are any readers who have examined these, or other Viking Age trefoil arrow heads, please take the time to add a comment!

Telluric iron

Telluric iron, also called native iron, is iron that originated on Earth, but is found in a metallic form rather than as an ore. Telluric iron is extremely rare, with only one known major deposit in the world, located in Greenland.

I'm always telling people about this - the only occasion metallic iron is found on the earth's surface, other than nickle-iron meteors. Someone should compare the trace elements in this material against known Norse artifacts - to see if this resource (within reach of the Greenland Colony) was ever utilized by the Norse.

... a half-scale furnace
complete with bellows and hammer at the Rural Life Centre. ...
There have been several burns in the furnace, proving the
efficiency of the bellows, but currently there isn't a big enough supply
of charcoal yet to enable iron to be made – despite being only
half-size, this furnace will still need four tons of charcoal when in
action.
Actual smelting of ore is still being considered (due to potential
dangers involved) but a charcoal burning programme has already been
initiated at the museum ...

Those who have ever undertaken or observed a full iron smelt likely spotted the same thing I did on viewing the video clip : Everything was spotless clean and there was no heat effects visible on the tapping surface - or slag anywhere. This is also an early blast furnace (late Medieval technologies), charcoal fired to produce liquid *cast* iron. Mention is made of the second part of this system, the use of a separate 'finery' forge set up to effectively *remove* carbon from the cast iron to create workable wrought iron. I strongly suspect the large bar seen being worked under the (very neat!) water powered tilt hammer is actually modern mild steel - understandably used for demonstration purposes.

The main change for 2015 is that I have attempted to place all the workshop courses at the Wareham Forge on either the second or fourth weekend of each month. Introduction to Blacksmithing (Basic) are all offered on the second weekend. Various specialty courses are offered on the fourth weekend.

Basic (two day) : This program will be limited to TWO students, working only PROPANE. Only offered in the cold weather months!

Viking : This is a new 2 1/2 program - Forging the Viking Age, no previous skills required. It will compose of an evening lecture, first day working modern equipment but making Norse objects, second day working with a Norse charcoal forge and bellows combination.

Experimental Iron Smelting has been shifted to coincide with the Summer Solstice and Samhain, plus the normal Thanksgiving, weekends.

Those who wax poetic about the 'free and easy life of the artist' might note that 2015 is still not even here yet, but already my schedule for next year leaves me only FOUR 'open' weekends - from mid May to mid November!

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

The Apple Macintosh Performa 580-CD
features a 33 MHz 68LC040 processor, RAM expanded to 36 Mb, a 250 MB hard drive, and a 2X CD-ROM drive in a relatively compact all-in-one case with a 14" color display.
This is one of the last Macs to include a 3.5 floppy drive.
SCUZI interface (no USB!)
Installed with System 7.5.1

This was my workhorse machine until roughly 2000. The majority of the Wareham Forge web site - and all my business records and technical writing was undertaken with this computer.

I will be making a couple of trips through the Brampton - Toronto area during December. It may be possible to arrange drop off. Otherwise, pick up at my home (google the Wareham Forge) north of Orangeville (near Flesherton)

Monday, December 08, 2014

Early Iron 4 will be held in pairing with the Northeast Blacksmith's Association spring hammer in.
Current thought is to have a separate admission for the Early Iron
related programming. (Although we all expect a certain amount of 'slop'
between the two groups of metal smiths.)
At this point the working team for Early Iron 4 is:Mike McCarthy (who started this whole mess and ran the other EI events) - nuts and bolts on the groundDarrell Markewitz (who, me?) - some early organizing and communicationsTim Neu (who has organized many earlier NBA events at Ashokan) - helping with the financial aspects
Lurking in the background will be Jonathan Nedbor (New England Bladesmiths Guild) and Lee Sauder.
The Ashokan Centre is well known for its history of blacksmithing events.
The facility is located roughly half way between New York City and Albany

There is an established blacksmith shop there (with a small mechanical
hammer) but this will certainly be occupied by the NBA activities.
There is a large 'picknick shelter' overhead with associated field that
is the most likely area for the main Early Iron activities.
As well the Centre has ample lecture spaces available.
The Ashokan Centre also provides meal and lodging packages (purchased
separately) for participants. These range from open bunks to private
rooms. Those who have attended other events there will tell you the food
is good quality and there is plenty of it. Rough estimate on a two
night / 6 meals is about $190 per person.

At this point there is still some discussion about how to shape Early Iron 4.Earlier symposiums have centred on demonstrations and teaching. At this
point however, the base information on how to build and operate a small
direct process bloomery furnace are fairly wide known. (For the last
decade, members of the extended Early Iron Group have undertaken a lot
of demonstrations!) Its also safe to say there is a kind of 'second
generation' of practitioners who have taken that basic research and
pushed it into solid 'bloom to object' work.
Some possible 'themes' that this event could explore:
- Historic / Cultural iron smelting traditions (North European / African / Japanese)
- Variations on Ore (similar furnaces then running various local ore types)
- Bloom to Bar to Object (more concentration on the challenges of working up those blooms!)

The exact format the activities take will determine the costing for
participants.
One question still open is if Early Iron should recruit one major
feature demonstrator? Or recruit a number of 'team leaders' - against a
more 'hands on' approach?

At the very least, please mark the date on your calendars. Spread the word!

I am happy to say that I will now have work available at this new, community based gallery in Toronto. I expect the Beaches area to be a perfect fit for the kind of work I have been doing (and potential customer). I met Christi as a student on one of my basic blacksmithing courses, and find her also a great fit in terms of her outlook and intentions with her gallery space.

(This is a bit difficult for me to determine here, as my older system / browser combination and especially my slow transmission speed is less than effective.)

Honestly, I think this whole attempt is more an illustration of differing approaches to a single event - of multiple objectives not meshing as well as they might.

The team at University of Aberdeen appear to be working from two viewpoints, which should compliment each other, but may have resulted in a few aspects being fumbled.
- One group of largely academics is researching the ability of rural communities to engage with each other from remote locations. The principle here is important - that internet communications should allow for even physically separated individuals to combine to share information. A cell phone or Skype connection does not (much) care if you are in the next room or half way across the planet - at least in theory.
A second group is basically composed of techies, people involved in the nuts and bolts of hardware and software. Fair to say those focused on the attempt to bring the grand principle of universal access into practical function.

A third group involved ended up in many ways being like the icing on that two layer cake. That's the people (like myself) who are presenting the actual content. Frankly, I'm not sure how much influence we ended up having over what or how *we* thought information about our work would best be illustrated or presented. Obviously we were enthusiastic about any situation which would allow us to report to a wider audience about the Turf to Tools project.

The presentation consisted of four primary elements:
- Nuno Sacramento, Director at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop
live, describing the overall Turf to Tools project and its intended objectives
- Eden Jolly, Chief Technician at SSW
live - describing the physical activities of the project (and something on his own background)
- Video of the third smelt shot by Tom Jones, University of Aberdeen
this did include a fairly good description by myself of the process, plus the whole extraction process
- Myself
contributing via Skype from Ontario (using an iPad mini), attempting to answer audience questions.

There was no specific co-ordination before the event between the individual presenters about their individual content. Although we had all worked together on the project, we had approached the whole sequence from differing viewpoints and expectations. This showed pretty clearly in how we individually spoke about the project.
(In itself not such a bad thing, as it did illustrate something about what had always been intended as a collaborative project. This might have left viewers, unfamiliar with those involved or the the body of work, with a fractured image of the conduct of the project??)

From my side, two things did stand out:

First, the publication of the live streaming itself did not appear particularly effective.
This may or may not have been a concern to the academics or the technicians. I was certainly not able to access what pre-event advertising that might have been made through the University of Aberdeen community (which might have been extensive?). I certainly did not have access to any related advertising materials until early the week of the event. I made some attempts (not necessarily very effective) to notify people via the on line world : Facebook / direct discussion groups / my blog / very limited direct e-mails.
This was rendered ineffective by a last minute change in the actual internet access portal used for the live streaming. I was told of the change in access site less than five hours before the event. Too late to modify the previously published information.

Second, despite some earlier attempts to test the internet communications, there were some significant linkage problems. The use of internet based live streaming inserted a considerable delay between a source voice - and the broadcast of that voice. Roughly 30 seconds by my count. This created a feedback loop effect, with speakers (both live in Aberdeen and me from Ontario) needing to talk over top of their own delayed voice coming back over the audio broadcast.

A more minor problem, at least on my side, was that audience questions were not picked up via a directly held microphone. Trying to pick out the questioner's voice from a general room mike was extremely difficult for me. (That attempt at concentration certainly was clearly visible on my face!)

Although the concept of integrating individuals from widely separated locations into a single broadcast event employing internet based technologies is a good one, the end result of this specific presentation I think illustrates the problems :
- Although the technologies may exist at the 'top end', the limitations and varying capabilities of individual hardware, software and access remains difficult to effectively integrate. Most especially for private individuals (self funded) and for rural locations (reduced access speeds).
- Special consideration needs to be made for the direct limits imposed by the continuing lack of true 'high speed' communication system for rural locations. There is a clear 'divide' between the possibilities of expensive state of the art hardware and software and urban available high speed connections - and the existing realities of rural residents (using older hardware and with only poor connection speeds available).
- Although the internet may be instantaneous, *people* are not! Increasingly there is a paradox between an expectation of fast turn over on information, and how those same fast systems over tax the human limitations. The ability to (theoretically) *do* more and more has created an expectation that somehow we are actually *able* to do vastly more. The real effect is that increasingly, choices to participate in individual events must be made ever further into personal future scheduling.

'The oxen are slow - but the earth is patient'(The balance is more or less a separate commentary on Rural Access)

I find myself in a unique (?) position to comment on this specific problem - the internet and the increasing 'urban / rural divide'.
I have been active with the internet from its earlier days, pretty much as long as access was possible via telephone modem here in lower Grey County. In the early 1990's, this was via discussion boards, primarily still in a kind of of 'live chat' format. I was also early involved in personal web sites, the original content for the Wareham Forge was created and posted roughly 1994. (Back then you had to learn and hand write html code.)T
through the late 90's I had been in a position to receive a number of slightly used Macintosh computer main frames, which all came loaded with top end graphics software. The cost of replacement Mac computers, most especially the cost of replacing all that software (!) has resulted in me keeping to older machines and software versions. Right now I am working primarily on a 2005 issue machine (Mac G5) running a 2007 operating system. My email software is Thunderbird (2007) and my browser is Firefox (2010). Presently this machine is 'maxed out' - it is running the latest combination of software that it is able. Fixed at roughly 2007, so seven years from 'current'.
Do note that my extensive web site has largely been created and implemented using entirely 2005 level hardware and software
(a good portion using systems older than that even). In terms of
everyday business functions, I manage successfully employing systems of
the same vintage. On image processing, the vintage of the hardware and software is much the same (my primary digital camera is a 2006 model). Of all the aspects of my business operations, it is only my limited video processing which would noticeably be improved with the installation of new (faster) computing or software.

My physical location is roughly 5 km off a main highway, a good 15 plus km from the closest (small!) village, and located on the highest ground in Ontario. This combines to greatly limit my potential access to internet connection. I gave up service via on the 1960's era Bell Canada copper wire about 10 years ago. Transmission speeds there were running roughly 5 *kilo* bites per second. (So that is 5 - 30 seconds for a typical e-mail message, roughly 1 - 2 minutes for a standard small sized image. Makes it roughly 20 minutes for a typical digital 'straight out of the camera' image.)
I don't have connection via line of sight to any direct wireless broadcast towers here. This partially geography, but more because the low population density does not deem it profitable to install the towers. (About two years back I did test the wireless hub equipment offered by Bell, Telus and Rodgers. All ensured me that G4 level service was available. In actual fact, none of their equipments would actually connect to the internet here in Wareham.) As raw economics are determining the placement of (admittedly costly) broadcast towers, that situation is never likely to change.
About ten years back, I was pretty much forced to invest in a satellite uplink system. At the time the total investment (hardware and installation) ran me about $1000. Monthly cost then was $50, increased since to $70, that for base level service. This is via the Xplornet system (the only service provider available by the way). Despite advertising to the contrary, my typical functioning transmission speeds are roughly 300 to maybe at best 500 *kilo* bites per second. I currently can not usually listen to on line transmitted music 'as fast as it plays'. I certainly can not view video (like YouTube) without waiting at least four times longer than the length of the clip for the download. I can manage Skype video chat, but often with breaks in video and even audio. This limit on functional speed is, if anything, likely to be reduced with time - certainly not increased. You share a portion of the available dish volume with all other users, so the more people purchase the service and then attempt ever more complex use, the effective available speed / volume per individual is reduced.

Increasingly, I am finding myself blocked out of portions of the internet.
One reason is the rapid increase in software. As organisations increasingly add more 'whistles and bells' to their web sites, these elements are generated using increasingly later version (or entirely new) software 'widgets'. Facebook, for example, is increasingly annoying for this. As I am not interested in someone's choice of soundtrack or 'dancing pigs' framing, I find my self blocked from information content because of these mere distractions. I have found a number of official Government impossible to use, because they require specific software installation on the part of the user. (I find it particularly offensive that I am being required in install the latest version of Microsoft Windows to communicate with my own government - for registrations they themselves are insisting I need undertake. This is in in result a demand that I need purchase a specific computer type and operating system package - of the Government's choice.)

Individual web sites increasingly use ever more elaborate security features, which create two interlocked blocks to my use. First is again a requirement for newer software, and by extension a newer computer to run that software. (A clear argument can be made that elevated security is to *my* benefit, so I should be making the investment to remain current here.) More significant to this discussion, is the increasing requirement for high speed transmission during the course of 'secure' functions. The machine on the other end, sends out a 'ping' - a simple 'are you still there?'. Increasingly, bu the time my machine, on the other end of the satellite broadcast down, then up again, can not return the 'I'm still here' message. So, for the sake of perceived 'loss of contact', the controlling system just halts the ongoing process. What I get on my end is a 'session terminated' message.
Bare in mind, these blocks are all happening where increasingly, official services are being converted to 'on line only'. Canadian Goods and Services / Harmonised Sales Taxes are only able to be processed via on line communications at this point. Bell Canada and other utilities are now charging extra to issue paper copy invoices, expecting these transactions to use entirely on line processing instead.

As I have absolutely no control over access to the internet itself, as a rural resident I am slowly being excluded from functional parts of the internet. As transmission speeds are directly the result of the installation of major infrastructure systems, and these are dictated by 'cost per user', I can not envision my situation ever significantly improving. (The massive influx of Menonite farmers into my local area over the last five years is not likely to improve the 'users per square kilometer' function.*)

As individuals are increasingly dazzled by the 'latest and greatest', in a society ever obsessed with novelty over function, I expect the Rural - Urban Divide as applied to the internet to also ever increase. Increasing raw speed has become the driver itself, over any consideration that there is actually any improvement in activity. Your computer might be able to process e-mails at a thousand a minute, but you still can not read them any faster and still only hunt and peck as you type to answer them.
Because you have been convinced that your six month old phone is not adequate any more, or you want to play Total Combat 15 on line, the entire internet is shifting to demand the only effective access is extreme high speed access.

Those of us who are being choked off from these required access speeds, through those same merely profit bottom line restrictions, are being left in the metaphorical dust on the information super highway.

(a good example of human vs internet speeds? This report took me roughly three and a half hours to compose.)

* Curriously enough, one of the related problems of rural life - fluctuations in electrical supply, has actually been greatly improved locally with this same influx of Menonite owners. One of the first signs of Menonite purchase of a property is that the existing Hydro connections are yanked out. In fact local Menonite farms are massive users of electricity, but that power is manufactured individually using large diesel powered generators installed on each farm. The electrical grid around Wareham was installed in the 1950's, and not significantly upgraded since. When I first moved here there were serious problems with brown outs (daily), power surges (weekly) and failures (monthly). I had to invest in a number of 'un-interrupted power supply' systems for all the household electronics. With so many users excluding themselves from the grid, the electrical supply has actually gotten significantly *more* dependable of late.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

On Thursday the 20th of November, as part of the Being Human festival,
the dot.rural SIRA STREAMS project will be holding a public event with
Scottish Sculpture
Workshop about their 'From Turf to Tools' project.
'From Turf to Tools' is an ongoing enquiry into resources,
material and landscape. During August 2014, this led to the recreation
of an Iron Age smelting process in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire. Join
us for the event online to find out more about the project, see video
footage of the smelt, see the materials used and produced, and
participate in a live Q&A with artist Eden Jolly and Master
Blacksmith Darrell Markewitz (joining us remotely from Ontario, Canada).
Hear about work being carried out at the dot.rural Digital Economy Hub
to share these activities online with remote audiences worldwide.

The event commences at 6.45pm (UK time) - if you wish to participate online please register here for your invitation:​

This is an 16 hour program that stresses a hands on approach, with two full working days in the forge. Only 4 students per session, each with their own work station, means close personal attention. Projects include poker, 'S' hook, wall hook, and at least one small decorative item (more as time permits!). Course fee of $325 (+HST) includes coffee and materials.

As I have mentioned, there is a dance between ore (as the lead) and
furnace details. Playing the tune is construction materials on melody
and charcoal type sometimes improvising.

Powered potters clay is cheap and very easy to work with - and can be purchased as known types.
Local
clay is considerably more work (unless you are one of the lucky ones)
and usually will have quite specific (likely unknown) properties.
You
can make your own decision if digging, hauling, drying, breaking,
cleaning then re-mixing a local clay is worth the roughly $10 - 15 a bag
of powdered clay costs.

Working with clay
obviously gives you the most flexibility in terms of design. (Making a cylinder using rectangular bricks is sometimes not the easiest.
Remember
that the air blast, so the burn pattern, in the furnace will be some
variation on a *spherical' volume. You make a square or rectangular
furnace and there are going to be corners that are not going to burn /
contribute to the reactions. (Japanese Tatara aside, but there the
system uses multiple air points to get around the physics.)

Parks Canada / LAM - 2001 (first smelt attempt). You can clearly see that the two corners opposite the tuyere point are not ignited at all.

Like everything else, there is a knack to working with hand mixed clay.Lee Sauder's / Owen Bush's advice of mixing up your clay balls and leaving them to relax is excellent (time / space / manpower allowing)

At this point I don't think any of the successful, multiple smelt workers are using a straight clay (??)

Sand in the mix reduces the way wall material expands when it heats to operation temperature.
A
high sand mix does require considerably more effort on the build. It
also requires much more careful drying / baking before the furnace is
used.
The result however, with the care needed, is most certainly a more durable furnace.
This is the mix that Lee is using, and he certainly has had an individual furnace re-used dozens of times.

One of Lee's Furnaces (a slightly older version)

Organics added will do three things :
- Pieces remaining in the outer layer of wall act to bind the whole structure together. This action tends to limit potential cracking, and hold the walls together even if cracks form.
- Organics
with hollow cross section (ie - straw) allow some place for the
expanding steam to go, steam produced when the water in the clay heats.
The massive increase in volume as water flashes to steam is the primary
source of cracking of the clay walls. (Obviously very careful / long
duration drying limits this available water remaining in the walls)
- Pieces
remaining in the inner layer of wall will eventually burn away with the
high temperatures of an operating furnace. This in effect leaves air
spaces, which are insulators. The gross effect is to help limit the loss
/ spread of heat into the exterior surface of the furnace. (This at
least in theory, honestly I doubt anyone has actually tested for this
??)

Obviously differing organic additives will perform differently:
-
We tested 'peat moss' - purchased locally as spaugam moss for
gardening. The long pieces soaked up excessive water and held it, making
mixing a bit of a pain (hard to get consistent mix). Then the drying
became a real problem. In the end we got excessive wall cracking - there
was just too much water being held by the mix.
I highly expect that what anyone would get locally as 'peat moss' might vary an extreme amount - region to region.
-
We have had extremely good results with shredded, dry horse manure. Get
last year's pucks, rub them between your palms. What you end up with
are very dry lengths of grass, usually about 5 - 10 mm long. Added to
clay, these pieces act just like fiberglass bits in car repair 'bondo'.
(I learned this technique from Micheal Nissen in Denmark.)
-
Our old stand by here is chopped dry straw. Cut the pieces to 5 - 10 cm
long with a hatchet or machette. Straw (rather than hay) has the hollow
core mentioned above. The net effect is just like adding rebar to
concrete. It does make hand mixing a bit of an effort.

Learning from Lee, the normal mix used here at 'Viking Age Central' (Wareham Ontario) is a rough mix by volume :
1/3 powdered clay / 1/3 course sand / 1/3 organic material
Often
we will use a higher fire temperature clay (like the EPK suggested) for
the part of the furnace around the tuyere level (which suffers the
highest temperatures). I have noticed any particular problem mixing
different clay types in one furnace.

We are
undertaking more experimental archaeology here than production smelting
here. For that reason, we are constantly changing details on furnace
construction (so building a *lot* of individual furnaces!). To date we
have only used one furnace for a total of five smelt events, the average
is closer to two smelts per furnace before we build a different model.

After seeing a whole lot of furnaces built, I would suggest the most important factor is : Take your time and use care in the build - this pays back with less cracking and more durability
The
single biggest error people make is not making sure the individual
balls / blocks of mixed clay are well fused to each other as you build
up the walls. Cracks are almost always along the joint lines of the
individual blocks as added.

The completed sculpture as installed proved extremely difficult to get any good images of! The location was just to the east of the main intersection in Elora, but on the side of the street. This made for complete chaos in the background!

In the end the base was encircled with rough stones - mainly as an extra security measure to prevent the un-wary from walking into the pointed terminals.

'From the Fury of the North'

'Deliver us' (plus maker's mark)

It proved too difficult to use the crimping technique to apply the bottom 'barbs' as originally designed. Instead I welded on the sharp triangles remaining from the starting cuts of the end points.

If anyone viewing might be interested, Spears of Summer is available for purchase. The original asking price is $2500. The piece stands about 7 1/2 feet tall. The metal has intentionally been left with its 'out of the forge' fire scale, which is slowly starting to red oxidize naturally as it weathers.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

I've read numerous threads within the Bloomers and Buttons section
here and watched countless YouTube videos on the topic. They are all
very informative and helpful, but it seems that many of them start at a
knowledge base which is still a distant spec on my horizon.
...
I guess what I'm looking for is some repeatable process data:
stack & tuyere dimensions, charcoal & ore weights, air CFM
rates, burn times, etc.

I realize this is somewhat like asking, "Hey guys, how do I make a
knife?" or "What's this whole 'brain-surgery' thing about?" I'm just
looking for a way to speed up the trial and error process.

There are almost three separate aspects to your request - so here is some (unasked for?) advice.

It
seems almost anyone will put something on to YouTUBE. If they know what
they are doing or (more often) not. As an information source, this
makes it almost useless. Compounded by the truth that few people
actually * explain * what they are actually doing there. Multiplied by
the poor records or measurements many groups illustrated even bother
with in the first place.
(The number of * failed * iron smelts seen on YouTUBE *greatly * outnumbers the effective ones seen)

You
obviously have access to the internet. Google search 'iron smelt' and
you may notice something. A couple of names come up in excess : Lee Sauder / Darrell Markewitz / Jesus Hernadez
All three of us provide extensive documentation on our process, and significantly, records of past work. Lee alone is pushing 200 individual smelts he has personally undertaken (!)

Both Lee and I have 'basic method' documents available for download. Jesus has an excellent video tutorial available.

This
is not YouTube. A successful bloomery iron smelt takes at least two
full days of work to accomplish (one for build and prep, then roughly 4 -
6 hours plus on the actual smelt process). Nothing you can distill down
usefully into a ten minute clip.

Effective bloomery iron smelting is as much * Art as Science *.
A
well written guide by an experienced teacher can certainly help you
avoid some of the worst mistakes. Anyone who tells you that this is a
cook book process just does not know what they are talking about.

Friday, October 10, 2014

From Fall 2007 through Fall 2008, plus one in Spring 2012, DARC mounted a series of five iron smelts specifically aimed at re-creating Viking Age furnaces from Iceland. The archaeology was based on excavations by long time friend (and unofficial adviser) Kevin Smith at the Hals site. This was a long term, 'industrial' scale iron production operation, with the remains of a number of bloomery iron furnaces uncovered.

As a refresher, the Icelandic system is basically a cone made of piled
up grass sod, with a cylindrical hole in the centre (the furnace). At
Hals, these were constructed entirely above ground level. The cone was
then boxed with timbers. The space between the timber and cone was then
filled with earth to create a working surface at the top level of the
cone / furnace mouth.

Possible Furnace Construction - based on Hals

More details on the site, and the logic behind our reconstructions, can be found in the semi formal description 'Towards an Icelandic Smelt'

An important difference from other furnace builds we have undertaken is that there is no true clay found on Iceland (our normal construction material!) My suspicion is that at Hals, the sod itself forms enough barrier to contain
working gasses and heat of the furnace. The timber and earth fill is
merely to create the elevated working area for charcoal and ore workers.
I have yet to calculate the required timber or earth needed for the full
above ground build. Obviously there would be a considerable volume of both grass sod and earth required. The timber would have to be purchased, most likely
in the form of wooden fence posts.

Remains of the Fall 2008 Furnace

Over the earlier series, the working furnace was set back into the low earth bank on one side of the smelting area here at Wareham. (This done to conserve on the materials required for a full build, especially as individual 'problems' were investigated.)

Intended construction - Icelandic Furnace

What I am considering is to simply use the existing earthen bank to
contain the lower part (roughly half the needed height) of this
construction. This will limit the amount of dirt needed to be dug and
shifted. Also greatly reduce the amount of timber required for the upper
box construction.
The lower part of the furnace face will be constructed of stone - in
effect creating a 'slag room' style, similar in this aspect to what was
used for the Turf to Tools project.

The result here is that Sunday October 12 will be a * working * day at
Wareham. Sod will be cut and stacked (from a piece of yard that is intended for a garden). The old furnace will be cleared and some
earth dug away. Ideally at least the base structure will be laid for the
new furnace.
Other hands extremely welcome!

The full build will all be (hopefully) completed in time for a full run of the Hals system
(smelt) on Saturday November 1.

I am looking for a knife for a while now and have not yet found one which met my requirements for a price I’m willing to pay.

"Layered Drop Point" - 1997 : This is the blade Peter referenced. It has a 3 1/2 inch long blade and a specifically shortened handle and one piece construction

A true statement is always 'you get what you pay for'
This cuts both ways - as you *should* expect higher quality at a higher price.

I need a knife which
will cut my fire wood as well chops 1 tot 2 inch branches which wont turn blunt in 2 days. I only need 4 inch length of blade.

These three requirements may work against each other.
At 4 inches, the blade would have to be considerably thick to create the
kind of impact you would need for this kind of heavy hacking task. This
not necessarily a problem, as a blade with 5mm or more in thickness
along the back, and a relatively wide blade can certainly be forged.
A larger concern is balancing your requirement for edge holding against the requirement for excessive durability.
The problem is that a harder metal is required to produce a cutting edge
that retains sharpness. However, harder metal is also more brittle -
more prone to breaking if subjected to extreme use. (Consider a scalpel
or box cutter blade = extremely sharp, holds that edge, but also
extremely fragile.)
Generally 'heavy hacking blades' are created from a middle carbon steel, to balance edge holding with shock resistance.
One solution is to create a sandwich with a high carbon core (edge
holding) layered between two pieces of mild steel (shock resistant).

Be aware that a blade formed of * just * layered steel will * not * have the edge holding ability of a plain high carbon one.
Because the layered block alternates hard and softer metal, the cutting
edge created will actually alternate (in fine detail) between areas of
hard and soft. This in fact creates a cutting edge that will wear
unevenly.
The true value of layered steel is not in its edge holding - but in
greatly increasing shock resistance. This effect most functional in very
large blades (read sword sized).

My current method of creating layered steel blades (cross section)

XXX
XXX
XXX
FVF
FVF
V

X = layered and twisted
F = flat stack layered
V = high carbon slab

You can see that in effect, the back area of the blade is composed of
the more flexible (and highly decorative) twisted 'pattern welded'
material.
The blade area is composed of a slab of hard carbon steel, protected by two blocks of layered material
On sharpening, the hard carbon steel is exposed to form the actual cutting edge.

"Pattern Welded Sgian Dubh" -
2006 : This blade is constructed in the method described above.

An alternate solution to these functional requirements would be to use
some exotic alloy steel. I personally do * not * work with those kind of
materials. Most require specialized forming and most especially heat
treating steps or equipment that I just to not have access too. (This is
the approach used by most 'commercial' knife producers, with ground
blades from stock bars, which are then industrially heat treated.)

I like to know how much it
costs to make a Layered drop point knife of layered steel, could you
give me a estimation of the costs?

Specific quote will be determined by the exact details of a specific design.
Typically, it will take me three working days to forge up the starting
billet of layered material as described - enough to then forge out two
knives (depending on blade size). The process of forging, then grinding and polishing a single
knife takes another two and a half days.
Hilting adds both more time and materials costs, so needs to be quoted separately.

Note that for the one piece knives seen on the web site - the price is calculated for the * entire * length (blade plus handle)
(You might notice that this is a stupid small amount - considering the
amount of time expended on each knife - in a seven day 'shop week' I can
basically only produce TWO blades.)

And the final question do I understand correctly that you charge in
Canadian dollars?

Yes - prices quoted in CDN funds.
If paying in alternate currency, there will be a conversion fee added (cover bank losses)
50 % deposit required on order 'non refundable against work undertaken'
balance due in full before shipping
Shipping costs added on top as required your destination
(HST added within Canada)
Any Customs Duties remain customers responsibility
Production time dependant on current commissions

One of the continuing problems any artisan maker has is sorting the
serious from the casual. I do normally treat every initial request as if
it was serious and going to lead to an actual commission. In actual
fact at best only one in ten leads to actual paid work.

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